Thursday, July 04, 2013

Cradle and Grave of Liberty, Part Deux...

Well, TJIC got his Massachusetts FID* reissued, and has reapplied for an MA LTC**.

Now the local po-po*** is surrounding his crib, wanting to inspect the premises. Without a warrant. In the suburbs of Boston. On Independence Day.

Is irony dead in this country?

I'd type more, but I'm on the phone with casa de TJIC and I need to light the beacon fire...

* FID: Firearm Identification. What you need to own a gun in MA.
** LTC: License To Carry: What you need to take firearms outside of your house in MA oustide of very restrictive circumstances. Comes in many flavors.
***Like, ten cops.

At the end, some of the cops who ransacked the house tried to shake hands with me. "No hard feelings".

I refused and said "Gentlemen, please think about what you're doing. On the fourth of july, the day we celebrate freedom, you stole legally owned firearms from a women who is engaged to a guy who made a joke you don't like. You are not the good guys. You are 'just doing your jobs'. Look in the mirror. You're the bad guys."

Wait, one final bit: we got to watch the cops carry the illegally seized firearms out through the front door, WHICH HAD A COPY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE TAPED TO IT, then past an American flag and a Gadsden flag.

OK, I'm going to say something TJIC-ish now. I might have reason to regret the consequences, even if I don't regret saying it. So, here it is:

A proper, legally executed warrant simply means that the officer executing it may not be fired upon without that constituting a separate crime.

Conversely, I fully support, as a matter of American tradition and the plain language of the Constitution as understood by the people who voted to ratify it unencumbered by the contortions of lawyers, to fire upon any person not presenting a proper, legally executed warrant and attempting to enter, search, seize or occupy someone's home.

I recognize that the authoritarian response to my position will be to employ overwhelming force with no warning to out maneuver this legitimate response.

I forecast the market place counter-response will be to fortify ground floor windows, doors and walls against 'home invasion' threats.

Seriously, if you aren't in the USA already move now. I mean all of us, leave the statist &*-$holes to drown in their crap. Because it think its time to make these lines hard, it will make things easier later.

I posted a link to your blog about this. I remembered this when I was a *new* blogger and this spread like wildfire through the blogosphere. I also shamelessly cut and pasted the origional explaination of what transpired to cause the harassment.

Remember "Racial Cleansing"?This is like "Free Person Cleansing".By governmental threat, they are driving out citizen patriots to remove any threat to their position.Oh, that we had a federal guarantor of our constitutional rights.

This is a stunning display of tyranny by the so-called law enforcement agencies in MA. And antigunners say "More gun laws will make you safe / there should be permits and/or licensing / Nobody is trying to take your guns! "

It's more of a slow-motion sorting of the population. We're out of Mordor when family issues resolve in a few years - if not for that we wpuld be in a free state now. There's only so far you can drag a blue state towards freedom, and the refugees that move to free states make those states harder to turn. Let's hope Colorado is an aberration.

@Tam: I'm curious why a lawyer would give that advice, but then again I don't have a law degree.

@TJIC: Noted, and thank you for replying. I hope you don't think I'm calling you names; I'm just really curious because there was just this gap in the story between "The police are inside, without a warrant, and want in" and them being inside and confiscating your fiancee's guns.

I sincerely hope your lawyer reams them so hard they'll need colostomy bags for the rest of their lives.

Erin,If the DOJ is involved in this then they have far deeper pockets than us lesser mortals. If it's the local AG than their pockets are deep as well. I predict Jenny will get her property back but am less confident on TJIC seeing a successful resolution...

RIP, Liberty. This is a case of the Nail That Sticks Up getting Hammered. It will pay the Government to realize that 237 years ago, this Nation was founded by armed Nails who learned to withstand the Hammer blows.

@TJIC: I never once thought it was deep or conspiratorial or anything like that. I just remember being told "If they don't have a warrant, never ever let them in" and am curious as to the reasoning of your lawyer.

I look forward to hearing more of the details, but ONLY when it safe for you to share them.

Given the lawlessness with which the gendarmes were otherwise operating, the attorney figured that, as between not resisting the illegal search and seizure, and having the front door broken down, the family pets shot, the children kidnapped by DFS, etc., the former was the lesser evil.

I'm a California-accredited ambulance-chaser, and I'd give similar advice under the circumstances. Your home is your castle, but the mooks outside are eager to climb into their ninja costumes and storm the ramparts waving MP5s and shit. You can't get justice if you're dead.

Erin, my follow-up to Anon's (7/5 3:11 pm) wild-assed guess (and bear in mind: IANAL, I don't play one on TV, and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night):They came in without a warrant, and were let in because force was threatened against the occupants if they continued to refuse. Any "evidence" they seized can be challenged in court as to its admissibility. If the police had HAD a warrant, it's presumed admissible and it'd be much harder to get it challenged/tossed. I'm very sure there are other factors (like I said, IANAL), but that's what occurs to me first.

TJIC: I'm looking forward to learning more about your case, but not until it's safe for you to share it. Until then, listen to your counsel and play it safe. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

I'll likewise support the pragmatic interpretation of "why did he let them in?": I'll assume for now he didn't, he told them they were not allowed in, he told them to get out when they were in ... because when a dozen armed men showing readiness to deliver deadly force in overwhelming volume show up at your door unannounced, unwarranted, and without permission/invitation, and they proceed to enter, there's not much you can do to stop them that won't get you killed in the process.

I'd assume too the lawyer called the PD in question, identified his interest, asked for confirmation of a warrant, got none, and concluded that telling his client "don't get yourself killed" will net TJIC enough to turn his business into a permanent hobby.

Remember, at Lexington & Concord, the citizens were suitably ready for the assault, armed and ensured women & children were elsewhere. Here, AFAIK TJIC was un/under-armed, and the woman present was the target: get her out alive is the paramount goal.

Arlington is excellent and well known for issuing LTCs in the metro-Boston area. In fact, the next city over is Cambridge which only issues them to LEOs and their families, so the idea that Arlington is anti-Secobd Amendment is more the result of regional differences rather than on the ground reality.

In reference to allowing LEOs into your home without a warrant, that is fact based and entirely situational. Failure to cooperate with local law enforcement may be grounds for license revocation in the Commonwealth. Trust his attorney on this one.

TJIC - My condolences to you and your family. I'll be happy to a support Legal fund if there is one. Be Safe, Best wishes.

I had considered at some point returning to MA, for the Fall Colors - not going to happen now. I'm officially boycotting MA.

Now I need to see if I'm dealing with any companies in MA so I can write them a letter telling them why their State is costing them business. I don't really have anything against those businesses but - Money Talks - if everyone concerned with these issues does likewise - I suspect those companies might try to apply a little pressure (OK Probably wishful thinking but it's the only pocket book I can affect).

If you're a supporter of the Constitution moving out of MA might be a very good decision - Give them less revenue to do harm with.

> TJIC @ 9:24 PM, July 04, 2013 said...>> At the end, some of the cops who ransacked > the house tried to shake hands with me. > "No hard feelings".> > I refused and said "Gentlemen, please think > about what you're doing. On the fourth of july, > the day we celebrate freedom...> You are 'just doing your jobs'. Look in the mirror. > You're the bad guys."> > Response: "I'm sorry you feel that way. > Have a good Fourth."

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I was assigned to Hanscom AFB from 2003-2005 (when I retired). I immediately moved back to CO where I had left all of my firearms because of the distinct anti-firearms attitude of MA. Nothing could possibly make me move back to that un-American state. Sadly, even CO is turning against the Rights of the People now. What I found particlarly ironic in MA was that it was the starting location of the American Revolution where firearm ownership was the essential tool in winning our freedom from an oppressive government.

I'm just now catching up on this (had some...well, "freedom"-related drama of my own on the 4th...

I am seriously appalled, but I'm not going to postulate theories, give advice, etc., because TJIC seems to have this under control. I am interested in hearing more...when it is safe for him to tell us.

I wish I had more to spare than well-wishes, and the hopes that your lawyer is a kick-a$$ Constitutional scholar, you get your property back, and get safely out of that state.

@NoSympathy: You can't win the war if you're dead. Soap box, ballot box, jury box, ammunition box. It may someday come to open conflict, but for now the jury box... the courts... are still a valid alternative battleground.

@NO sympathy: Really? I sincerely hope you're just a troll. Open up on the Arlington cops? Apart from the little matter of the very high probability of two innocent people thus committing suicide by cops, you'd be handing the anti-gun forces a MAJOR publicity (and public sympathy) coup. Jeezus. Clichéd and over used as the phrase is, Hearts and Minds applies here too.

a legal defense fund we can contribute to...?

Legal defense fund if needed, or moving expenses fund if not. Moving ain't cheap. A shame all around -- I rather liked Arlington when I lived there. Somervile (sic) not so much.

And it isn't a wookie-suiter calling it a conspiracy to murder, but the Ventura County District Attorney, Michael Bradbury, who refused to prosecute despite clear and convincing evidence.

Or, if that is too clear for you, google Luther v Borden, 48 US 1 (1849)if you want to see the law on resisting elected officials other than in court. If the Dorr War wasn't provocation enough, this wasn't either.